Kenyan talks with AL on Sudan, Somalia. Dismantling Somali militias
Somalia-Kenya, Politics, 5/14/2003

Kenya's foreign minister will visit the Arab League next week in order to hold talks with high ranking officials on efforts aiming to achieve national reconciliation in Somalia and peace in Sudan, as negotiations relating to the two questions are being held in Kenya.

The director of Africa and the Arab- African relations at the Arab League Samir Hosni said that the talks will deal with the AL support for the Somali reconciliation conference in Kenya. He said that that the Kenyan minister is accompanied by Kenya's special envoy to Somalia who supervises the Somali national reconciliation conference.

He indicated that the AL had supported the process of financing the reconciliation conference at $ 50,000 and will contribute to other financial spending to complete the convening of this conference and besides takes part in the negotiations through ambassador Salim al-Huqeibi, the AL special envoy.

In press statements Hosni said that an AL team will take part in the international fact finding committee and will visit the Somali areas. The committee will include representatives for the technical committee of IGAD, the UN, the African federation and the European Union.

He said that the international fact finding committee will evaluate the situation of the Somali factions, A measure which coincides with what was decided at the Arab Sharm Esh Sheikh summit concerning disarming of the militias with the aim to achieve political reconciliation and draw a formula for a ceasefire.

For his part, the assistant for the AL chief envoy to Somalia, Abdullah al- Oweini, said that members of the fact- finding commission will be distributed on 8 areas in Somalia as from the mid of this month, May.

He explained that the committee will get to know about members of the militias and the amounts of ammunition they have and then a team for arms dismantling of the Somali groups will be sent. He explained that the main problem lies in Makadishu, where the militias belong to groups from al-Haweya tribe.

He added that these measures are in the context of an agreement signed by the groups with the aim to dismantle weapons and achieving peace in Somalia. The agreement was signed in October, 2002.

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  UN Security Council warns against the situation in Somalia   (4/2/2003)
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  Kenya's president sponsors Somali peace negotiations   (11/2/2001)
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